sgmcgregor Posted 20 July , 2011 Share Posted 20 July , 2011 Hello everyone, During my research of the family tree I have come across a David Mcaulay who served with the Seaforth Highlanders during World War 1. He was posted as missing on 12th October 1916, and not reported as "presumed killed" until 1917. I have searched for him at CWGC but to no avail. I have tried various spellings of the surname - macaulay; macauley; mcaulay; and mcauley - but cannot find an entry for the man. I have a death certificate for him from scoltandspeople, where he is listed in the "Service Returns" as follows.... S/2965, Pte 7th Battalion Seaforth Highlanders, David Mcaulay, Aged 24, country of birth Scotland, 12th October 1916, France or Belgium,Killed in Action I have also managed to download his MIC from the National Archives website. I have five newspaper articles printed in local newspapers, the John O'Groat Journal, and the Northern Ensign, covering stories of his being wounded, and later being reported missing (along with a photograph printed in the newspaper - see attached image), and finally ending with the news that his parents had been notified of his death. What I was wondering is whether anyone can offer any advice on what I should do now. I hope that some readers out there may help with suggestions of any other spellings for his surname under which he may be listed at the CWGC. Possibly I just missed an unusual variant of the surname?? If it transpires that he is indeed not commemorated on the CWGC website, then I would like to try and get that rectified. Any advice would be most warmly welcomed. Kind Regards, Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangel9 Posted 20 July , 2011 Share Posted 20 July , 2011 Found using Geoff's [/url]http://www.cwgc.org/...casualty=241663 John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgmcgregor Posted 20 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 20 July , 2011 Found using Geoff's http://www.cwgc.org/...casualty=241663 John John, Thank you so much for that. The one spelling I hadn't thought of was "macauly". I have never seen the spelling without an "a" or "e" between the "l" and "y". Well, I thought if I had missed something spelling-wise, the one group who would be able to sort out my error was this group. Thank you again for your time and effort in helping out a novice. Kind Regards, Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eltoro1960 Posted 20 July , 2011 Share Posted 20 July , 2011 He is also on the Scottish National War Memorial and his will is held at the NAS in Edinburgh. John Surname McAULY Firstname David Service Number S/2965 Date Death 12/10/1916 Decoration Place of birth Wick Caithness Other 7th Bn. SNWM roll THE SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS Rank Pte Theatre of death F.& F. Will Repository National Archives of Scotland Reference SC70/8/571/88 Title Will of S/2965 Private David McAuly or David McAulay, 7th Bn., Seaforth Highlanders, Cause of death: Killed in action, France, Theatre: France and Flanders, 12 Oct 1916 or 12 Oct 1917 Dates 7 Jun 1915 Access status Open Access conditions Due to its fragile condition this will cannot be produced in the search room. Please contact a member of Search Room staff for details of how to access this document. Location Off site Description Informal will from Pay Book (Army Book 64). War Office refs: E/387687/1, 292/510221/17/18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archangel9 Posted 20 July , 2011 Share Posted 20 July , 2011 Steven, Geoff's is great for this sort of search, pity we will be losing it soon. I just searched by the 12th October 1916 and Seaforth Highlanders. Using the CWGC search can be very frustrating at times. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgmcgregor Posted 20 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 20 July , 2011 Thanks to both Johns, Remarkably helpful of you both. The NAS will is of great interest, and I have somebody who has been doing various research there for me related to other family members, so it will be worth asking them to have a check into this document. Obviously given the state of the document (according to the website) there may be issues in accessing it, but they have allowed photographs to be taken in the past where documents have been too fragile for copying. I've come across this before, and some of the documents I wanted researched were allocated to the conservation department because of their condition. It will be worth asking about this one though. As for the CWGC being frustrating - I would first like to say that they do a fantastic job. My failure to find David is merely due to my not necessarily trying the right spelling. It can be difficult with some surnames where various spellings are acceptable. I need to think harder next time! A "fuzzy search" would be helpful, but that is neither here nor there. I cannot fault the CWGC in any way. I am simply glad I didn't contact them before checking here for help and advice. I would have felt a prize idiot if I'd said that David wasn't comemorated, when in fact he was. However, I will sign off by saying that I still fell like a prize idiot. Kind regards Steven Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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